GRAHAMSVILLE--Retired 53-year-old Ladies Professional Golf Association golfer Sherri Steinhauer has become a strong advocate for the sport of Pickleball and she is helping the sport grow in Sullivan County.
Sherri spends her winter months in Palm Springs, California and the summer months in the Town of Neversink where she also has her own personal memorabilia golf museum which covers both her amateur and professional career.
A two-time major champion and three time winner of the British Open Steinhauer hosts cub scouts, youth golf teams and plans to bring more children to the facility which promotes the game of golf and where serving as a mentor to children has become a passion project.
Her 26-year golfing career came to an end in September of last year with a competitive round in a one-day Legends Tour event.
After 40-years of playing golf she began to suffer with hip issues but the only problem in leaving the game of golf was her yearning for competition. This is when she picked up the game of Pickleball which she has said gives her the competition she longed for while staying in shape and making new friends.
Sherri and Tami Shaver helped conduct a Pickleball orientation last Saturday morning at the Grahamsville Fairgrounds Basketball and Tennis courts and interested players learned quickly why Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the USA.
Sherri had help from a number of experienced players who live in Orange County who showed new players how the game is played.
Neversink town officials last week gave special thanks to Sherri and Tami who gave the town a generous donation to help defray some of the costs associated with the repairs at the tennis courts and the installation of Pickleball courts.
Sherri and Tami are actively working to get together some Pickleball games and tentatively would like to designate Saturday mornings but need to firm up these plans.
Pickleball was first started in the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington at the home of then State Representative Joel Pritchard.
The Pickelball court is similar to a doubles bad-mitten court and is 20 x 44 feet for both doubles and singles. The net is hung at 36 inches on the ends and 34 inches at center.
The court is striped like a tennis court, with no alleys, but the outer courts. The inner courts are divided by service lines and the inner courts are non-volley zones and extend 7 feet from the net on either side.
The outer courts, and not the inner courts are divided in half by service lines. The inner court are non-volley zones and extend 7 feet from the net on either side.
To play the game the ball is served with an underhand stroke so that contact with the ball is made below the waist level.
Points are scored by the serving side only and occur when the opponent fails to return the ball, hits ball out of bounds or steps into the non-volley zone.
The first side scoring 11 points wins but must be leading by at least two points.
The return of service must be allowed to bounce but after that the ball can be volleyed (hit in the air) and this is where the fun of the game begins and its referred to as the "rally."
An important part of the game is that the server must tell the score and what number server they are....example 4-2 server one. If you don't do this you lose a point.
Wow..... what an interesting game as we got initiated and saw that Pickleball is a combination of tennis, badminton and ping pong.
If we you want a sport that provides great exercise with competition with loads of fun meeting new people then try out Pickleball.
At the Grahamsville Fairgrounds courts you can rent equipment, balls and/or nets at the pool area during open hours of Monday-Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 7 p.m.
Additional Pickelball information can be obtained at usapa.org, equipment information at pickelballcentral.com and competition-tournament information at pickleballtournaments.com
Former Ladies Professional Golf Association golfer Sherri Steinhauer has taken her competitive drive to the game of Pickleball and is shown here last week in a Pickleball Orientation competition held at the Grahamsville Fairgrounds tennis court facilities.
Teaching the game of pickleball at the Grahamsville Fairgrounds tennis court facility is Robert Golfstein, right, of Monticello while Pickleball Orientation organizer Sherri Steinhaurer, second left looks on. Listening to the instructions are , l to r, Colleen Osterhout of Woodbourne and Katrina Uhrig of Woodridge.
This diagram shows the layout of a Pickleball court.
1 comment:
is there an indoor place to play Pickleball
Post a Comment